Welcome to the Club
by Silver Pansy
Summary: What do Zanpakuto do when their masters aren't fighting or talking to them? They form a club, and their two newest members are, to say the least, a bit stranger than they were expecting.


Silver: Just an FYI, multi-chapter stories are updated on Sunday, one-shots may appear randomly. Anyway, this was pretty fun to write, except I got stuck at the ending so it sucks, but no matter. Don't kill me if I got any of the characters horribly OOC, I haven't watched the anime in foreverness.

Pansy:Even for you this plot makes almost no sense.

Silver:Well that's not my fault, even though I thought of the plot and wrote it.

Pansy: Yep, not your fault in any way *rolls eyes*. Silver doesn't own Bleach or any of its characters. Enjoy

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><p>It was a quiet day in Soul Society, all wars having come to a rather satisfying end. The various Shinigami were enjoying the peace and tranquility they had lacked for so long and it seemed most were simply spending time with friends or wandering aimlessly through the maze like construction of buildings. Unfortunately, that meant a certain group of people were bored out of their minds.<p>

Long ago, it had been decided that in times like this, where there was absolutely nothing to do, they would get together and create their own amusement. As such, a strange, mostly unexplainable mindscape belonging to no one in particular was currently filled with the various Zanpakuto of the Gotei 13.

"Oh, oh, there's a newbie that doesn't know about this." The sudden exclamation came from a young redhead, her green eyes excited with a hint of underlying mischievousness.

"Haineko," the teasingly scolding voice chastised, "You shouldn't speak so belittlingly of those stronger than you."

The dust cat, true to her name, bristled visibly, "And what would you know about that Tobiume." Performing a complete one eighty she whirled abruptly to complain to the tall green haired man watching silently from a large couch. "Hyorinmaru, Tobiume's picking on me."

He merely looked away, ignoring them both as they went back to bickering. With the loss of his previous entertainment, the ice dragon stood to confront a samurai styled Zanpakuto whose face was hidden behind a rather demonic looking mask.

"She raises a valid point," he started, effectively breaking up the argument the samurai had been having with a wild looking, pastel pink haired woman and the smaller, brighter pink haired male attached to her. "I am certain, despite his solitary nature, that Zangetsu-san would appreciate the company of others every once in a while."

The other seemed to contemplate this for a moment before being interrupted by his previous argument buddies, "Don't think so hard Senbonzakura, wouldn't want to hurt yourself."

"Why you…" Now effectively distracted, Hyorinmaru could only sigh inwardly at Senbonzakura's easily angered and rash nature.

"Saru, Hebi, don't distract him."

"We can't help he's an idiot." They could be surprisingly in sync when it came to annoying the samurai, despite taking joy in bickering with each other when he wasn't around.

Hyorinmaru pulled Senbonzakura away from the two when he started to draw his sword. "It does you no good to get angry around those two."

He relaxed slightly, reluctantly sheathing his sword to address the other captain class Zanpakuto in a more respectful manner. "I know, but sometimes I can't help."

All that earned him was a slight nod of acknowledgement before the Zanpakuto with the x shaped, light blue mark covering his face repeated his question from earlier. "Do you think we should give Zangetsu-san the choice to join us? I would ask the other captain class Zanpakuto as well, but they'll either ignore me or hold no opinion."

"I don't think it would hurt to extend the invitation, however, we do not know that much about him."

The ice dragon nodded in acknowledgement. Now that the initial question had been answered, a new one came to mind. This was not going to be pleasant. "Who wants to go tell him?" It had been spoken loudly enough for all the Zanpakuto in the room to hear. They may have all been eavesdropping, but there was no way anyone was going to admit that.

When no one volunteered, it automatically fell to the most mature and least likely to weird others out, meaning Hyorinmaru. With a resigned sigh, he mentally asked Zangetsu for permission to enter his space. Access was hesitantly granted, the physically older, dark haired Zanpakuto not sure what to make of someone other than Ichigo entering his mindscape.

As the ice dragon slowly materialized in the others world, he realized no one was really at fault for his default adventure into another's mind. Zangetsu had long been a mystery to most if not all others, whether they be Shinigami or other Zanpakuto, leading him to suspect the only one who truly understood the Substitute Shinigami's Zanpakuto was the old man himself and perhaps Ichigo.

Hyorinmaru's musings were cut short by his arrival in what was probably the strangest mindscape he'd ever set foot in. Granted he'd only been in his own and the common area, he could still tell this one was unlike any of the others. The ice dragon found himself standing on the side of a building, the windows at his feet and the sky and ground to either side of him. Looking around in slight confusion at the obvious lack of another spirit, he was instantly alerted to a wild cry that came from somewhere to his right. There was a moments hesitation when Hyorinmaru was unsure whether he should meddle in the affairs of soul not his own, but it was reluctantly pushed aside when the cry was quickly followed by a round of rather colorful cursing.

Maybe saying the ice dragon was surprised by what he saw isn't quite the right word, everything seemed to implode on itself so suddenly Hyorinmaru couldn't think of anything else to place the emotion with. Standing not far from where he'd stopped was a tall, middle aged man with wavy, shoulder length, dark brown hair. He was holding a vehemently struggling being by the back of his white Shihakusho's collar effortlessly above the ground. The one being manhandled, Hyorinmaru effortlessly decided, looked like a bone white copy of the Substitute Shinigami, everything down to the gold on black eyes an inverted version of the man Toshiro sometimes complained about.

Currently, the inverted copy of Ichigo was struggling in the older being's grasp, not hesitating to display his vast knowledge of profanities. His angry tirade finally came to an end with an indignant cry of, "Put me the fuck down, old man. What did I do to deserve this?"

Satisfied that the other's rant had indeed come to a conclusion, the 'old man' finally replied, "You deserve much worse for what you've done, but because Ichigo is willing to look past it, so am I. Right now I am merely stopping you from injuring yourself, we both know Ichigo will not be pleased if you attack someone else's Zanpakuto."

"Well, if ya knew I was goin' ta try ya shouldn'ta invited 'im in."

"We should at least hear what he has to say before he determine whether he is a threat or not."

"Or we _could _just hack 'im ta pieces now an' not take th' chance."

The two continued to bicker back and forth like children, sometime during the exchange, the one being manhandled had been set down. Throughout, Hyorinmaru wasn't sure he appreciated them fighting over whether they should kill him or not, and uncharacteristically, he ended up comparing them to Saru and Hebi, eventually coming to the shocking conclusion that these two were actually much worse.

Finally deciding he'd rather get on the taller one's good side before the smaller one forewent arguing and just attacked him, the ice dragon asked, "None of us have really met you, and were wondering if you would care to join in a get together."

He wasn't really sure which one to address, considering he knew next to nothing about Zangetsu. It seemed his uncertainty somehow managed to reach the two beings that had stopped arguing in order to hear what he had to say, and the smaller, Ichigo clone huffed in irritation, folding his arms childishly across his chest while the taller one said, "We're both Zangetsu, but you may address him as Shiro." After a moments hesitation Zangetsu also added, "We would both appreciate company separate from each other."

Hyorinmaru nodded in acknowledgement, silently wondering if Shiro agreed with him or simply had no choice in the matter. As they stepped through the portal into the common area, Hyorinmaru couldn't help but think Shiro looked kind of like a Hollow.

Having been to the common space multiple times, Hyorinmaru materialized first, taking the time to warn everyone. "Zangetsu-san is willing to meat you all, just be careful. I believe most if not all of your preconceived ideas of him are misplaced."

His part said, the ice dragon took a comfortable place on the couch and watched with mild humor the chaos that was undoubtedly about to unfold.

The strongest ice Zanpakuto hadn't been lying when he said Zangetsu was nothing like what anyone had been expecting. First of all, no one had ever thought Zangetsu wouldn't be one being but two. Secondly, the vastly different appearances and personalities of the two did nothing to hint that they were even remotely related to each other, much less two halves of the same blade. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, now that neither was surrounded by the energy of their own world, their own distinctive reiatsu was much more easily distinguishable, revealing the Quincy tinged feel of the taller being's reiatsu as well as the Hollow tinged feel of the smaller one. Just what in the world was wrong with Ichigo and everything related to him?

Before that question could even be touched upon, the taller being, dressed in a ragged cloak, his blue eyes hidden behind yellow wrap around shades, introduced them. "We are Zangetsu, you may refer to me as such but he," a hand gestured toward the smaller bone white being beside him, "goes by Shiro."

It seemed Shiro was still put off by the whole idea of meeting other people and merely flicked his strange gold on black eyes around the room before returning them to the floor, refusing to meet anyone's gaze for more than an instant.

Most stared, none wanting to make the first move toward the mysterious and quite frankly terrifying duo that stood before them. After what seemed an eternity, it was Kazeshini that broke the silence. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to call them moody weaklings that only acted powerful to avoid real confrontation. It did confirm a few things though. It confirmed that their personalities were indeed as different as night and day. Zangetsu had stood there emotionlessly, his shaded eyes only just barely glancing at Shiro whose head had snapped up at the obvious challenge, anger and blood lust shining in his inverted eyes.

The second thing it proved was that the Hollow reiatsu rolling off of Shiro in foreboding waves was indeed Hollow reiatsu. Kazeshini found that out the hard way when the most powerful cero any of them had ever seen nearly took his head off. Shiro had grinned insanely at the other's shocked reaction. "Say that again, I dare ya." The watery, double voice only made the warning and challenge that much more terrifying to ignore and accept.

After that Shiro didn't wait for Kazeshini to make a decision on what to do, he simply lunged forward, right hand curling around the hilt of an invisible sword as he attempted to cut the violent, battle loving Zanpakuto down. There was a flash of light and reiatsu, and when it cleared, many were surprised to see that Kazeshini was most definitely in one piece, and that the sword the now rested Shiro's hand, the one that should have been stained with Kazeshini's blood was suspended in the air, blocked by a Zanpakuto exactly like his own, except this one rested easily in the hand of the taller, older Zangetsu. The fact that they had the same sword proved, beyond any form of doubt that they were two halves of the same sword, no matter how unlikely that possibility seemed.

What ever Ichigo Kurosaki was, it had affected the normality of his Zanpakuto as well, and no one was sure whether that was a good or bad thing. With that in mind, Zangetsu absently wondered how the others would react to the fact that they both changed forms when in Bankai. Shiro would undoubtedly find it amusing, though Zangetsu thought it might just be annoying.

When Shiro had settled down and dispersed his weapon, the incident was quickly forgotten. The tense atmosphere slowly lifting for more light hearted conversation. For the most part Zangetsu had taken to sitting on the arm rest of the couch, why the arm rest no one knew and no one was willing to ask. Shiro was actually easier to get along with than his initial outburst had suggested. It was actually kind of disturbing how well he got along with most of the other Zanpakuto, only a few of the more serious and quiet ones avoiding him.

The two spent some time with the other Zanpakuto, their overall weirdness put aside for the decent company they made. But eventually they decided to go back to their own mindscape and had left. In actuality, it was more Zangetsu's decision and then him dragging a struggling, cursing Shiro by the back of his collar through a portal back to their own mindscape.

It wasn't long after that the two had settled down that they felt a familiar presence enter their shared world. After discovering the true form of his Bankai, Ichigo had become much closer to both sides of Zangetsu, somehow even managing to get Shiro to mellow out around him.

"Toshiro told me you spent some time getting to know the other Zanpakuto. Did you enjoy yourselves?" the orange headed Shinigami asked when he fully materialized in front of them. His tone was purely conversational and he was even comfortable enough to tease Shiro, "You didn't kill any of them did you?"

The only reply he got from his inverted copy was an indignant huff, meaning he was in a bad mood. Zangetsu, for once, was a little more conversational and replied, "It was interesting. None died, though several might be mentally scarred."

The orangette just laughed, long used to Zangetsu's seriousness, his last thought before he proceeded to mercilessly and childishly tease Shiro was whether the other Zanpakuto would ever want to deal with his again.

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><p>Silver: Has anyone noticed I like to write about how strange Ichigo and his Zanpakuto are? Well I sure haven't. c:<p>

Pansy: Review, comment, point out inconsistencies, and ignore Silver's god awful attempts conversation.


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